Hey readers! I can't believe how many people have already read my story- and so far I've only posted the first chapter! In my ficpress account none of my stories ever got so many hits after they were finished! Well anyway, thanks for reading my story (and hopefully reviewing J). This chapter is going to be told from the others' point of view, though mostly Simon's.
Where's Derek and Chloe now? Simon thought to himself as he made his way down the upstairs hallway, peeking into abandoned rooms. Probably making out somewhere, his snide subconscious answered. After all, they do like each other.
With a resolute shake of his head he dispelled that thought from his mind, storing it in the back most corner of his brain for dwelling on later. Right now he just had to find them and tell them that Andrew had called to say he wouldn't be home until the next day. This was great news. It meant they'd be able to plan their escape tonight. Heck, with Andrew gone they might be able to actually escape tonight.
He had reached the end of the hallway, the only door remaining the attic. Oddly enough, that was the only door that seemed to be bellowing his name.
"Simon! Open the door!" he recognized the furious tone of his foster brother. What had Derek gotten himself into now?
"Um…ok." Simon reached for the handle. It stuck. "It's locked."
"You think I don't know that? Hence why I can't get out!"
"All right, chill. You don't happen to have the key in there, do you?"
"If I did would I still be stuck in here?"
"Yeah, guess not. Well, how did you get locked in there anyway?"
"Chloe." he spat the name.
"Chloe locked you in the attic?" Simon asked, incredulous.
"Yeah now open the door!" Derek snapped.
"Ok. Do you happen to know where the key is or am I supposed to search this entire freakin' mansion?"
"Chloe said she left it out there for you."
"Hang on." Simon bent down to retrieve the small copper key from where he had just noticed it in the corner. "Just one second and-" the lock clicked open. "You're free!"
Derek shot past him, storming down the hallway without so much as a thanks. "Where are you going?" Simon demanded, chasing him.
"To find Chloe."
"Ok, stop." Derek didn't so much as pause in his steady charge down the stairs. "I said stop!" he repeated.
This time Derek whirled around, glaring up at him from several steps down. "What?"
"What the hell is going on?"
"Read this." Derek pulled a folded scrap of paper from his jeans pocket and tossed it to Simon, waiting for him to read it. He gingerly unfolded it, already scared at what it would contain that would piss Derek off so much.
Guys, I'm going to go find an escape route. So far we don't know how many people are out there or what's the fastest way through the woods, and we all know we can't escape until that is figured out. We also all know that one of us has to go out there to find out, and that I should be the one to go. You know the reasons. Don't follow me, though. That would kind of defeat the purpose of me going alone. Hopefully I'll be back soon. If not, just keep trying to find a way to escape. We'll meet up with each other later.
P.S. Sorry Derek
Simon let out a heavy breath through his nose, refolding the paper. "Well," he sighed, "at least she's brave."
"And stupid. Let's go." Derek turned away.
"Wait. Are you sure we should follow her? I mean, she did say we shouldn't follow her…"
"Chloe cannot take care of herself." he said it with absolute conviction.
"Dude, you're being too hard on her. She's the strongest girl I know-"
"Me too. Which is why I have to go make sure she doesn't get herself killed." that was obviously his final word on the matter, so Simon resigned himself to following him.
"Where have you- what's going on?" Tori, sitting at the kitchen table with a magazine, quickly switched questions as she caught sight of their faces.
"Have you seen Chloe?"
"Yeah," Tori's expression was confused and wary. "She just left, like, an hour ago. Said she was going for a walk, needed some time to think. Why?"
Derek cursed. "You just let her go?"
"Um, yeah. I'm not her babysitter. She can go wherever the hell she wants to."
"Not if it means going into the woods when there are guys with guns out there!"
"Look, we don't know that for sure. So what if the girl wants some fresh air? Can't say I blame her. This house is getting smaller by the minute."
Derek shook his head, grumbling under his breath, and pushed out the kitchen door. "What's up with him?" Tori mouthed. Simon just shrugged.
"He's worried about Chloe. He doesn't think she can handle herself." he explained.
"So now we have to go look for her, don't we?" Tori sighed.
"Yep." He followed Derek out the door, not bothering to check if Tori was coming too. He knew she would be.
"Well what are we going to do? Search the whole forest for her?" Tori demanded.
"No." Simon jerked his head at Derek who was crouching at the outskirts of the forest.
"Right. Wolfhound." She wrinkled her nose slightly.
"She went this way." Derek loped off into the forest, probably assuming they would wait there. Instead, Simon and Tori (who was grumbling under her breath) took off after him, blundering through the forest. Every so often Derek would turn around to glare at them and press a finger to his lips. Tori would roll her eyes but both would try and silence their passage, not that it did any good. It was a wonder they weren't discovered right away.
Derek would occasionally bend over and examine, or sniff, the ground for traces of Chloe. Their progress was slow and bumbling, leaving the morale for all three of them low after only half an hour of trudging through the undergrowth.
The morale only dipped even lower when one sharply distinct sound pierced the quiet. A gunshot. Simultaneously they tensed and froze, waiting for a rejoinder. None came.
"You don't think-" Tori said after a moment.
"No. They probably just shot a squirrel or something." Derek shook his head firmly. "Actually, it probably wasn't even a gunshot. It was probably a deer stepping on a twig, or something like that."
"Yeah. Probably." Simon agreed quickly, although he didn't miss that Derek subtly changed the direction they were heading in to go towards the source of the sound.
Derek was now stopping every few minutes to stoop to the ground, hesitating each time just long enough to check for scents. He must not have been finding anything because each time he stood up his expression was twisted with disappointment.
A few minutes later, though, he didn't stand up right away. Instead, he stayed bent low to the ground with his features screwed up in concentration.
"Bro?" Simon asked out of a minute. Derek didn't answer. "Do you smell anything?"
"I think so…" His nostrils flared. "I think it's…Chloe. But there's something else…"
"Oh brother," Tori rolled her eyes.
"What?" Simon encouraged.
"I smell Chloe and-" Suddenly he went rigid, head snapping up. "Blood."
"What?" Simon and Tori demanded in unison, but Derek ignored them. He stood up and sprinted into the murky forest gloom, leaving them both behind.
Duh, Duh, Duh *cue dramatic music*. So? What do you think will happen? Is Chloe going to be ok? I can't wait to hear your guesses!